Improvement in steam-whistles



iff v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVI E. LINCOLN, OF LOIVELL, MASSACHUSETTS; ELIZABETH K. LINCOLN ADMINISTRATBIX.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-WHISTLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,006, dated August 30, 1864.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI E. LINCOLN, of Lowell, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Steam-Boiler Whistles; and l do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, with letters ot' specitication marked thereon.

Whereas steam-boiler whistles have heretofore been made in manner such as to require special adjustment for all pressures materially different. from that to which each one was adapted or proportioned, the nature ot' my invention is such as to make each whistle adjusted, or to be self-adjustable, according to the tension ot' steam which may at any time attack it, and to make it also adaptable to a boiler without the intervention of a shutott cock, while at the saine time it may be cleaned and tightened without the necessity ot'renioval.

A A is the base ot' the whistle, and byit the whistle is connected to the boiler.

B B B is a flanged double-cavitied cylinder kcrewing into A A, and forming the chamber C C.

D D D is the bell-post or guiding-post of the whistle, screwing into B B, and forming with it the annular opening g g.

E E is the bell ofthe whistle, supported by the postD, and kept in line with the annular opening g g by the radial arms F F. In the perspective View the walls E M N E are seen to be of slightly unequal depth, and the edge of E N is seen to be sharpened by an outside charnier. An inside chainfer is made upon the side E M.

H is the neck ofthe bellpost, up and down which the head ot' the bell may move freely.

I J is the valvespiudle extending' up through the bell post, and, when in position, stopping the steam-passage from C C.

K K is aspring beneath J, which, when the spindle is not iorcibly depressed, keeps the valve-passa ge closed.

z z are openings in the discharge-chamber ot' the whistle, about two-thirds ot' the capacity ot' the steam-inlets in the bell-post, and their otiice is to discharge excess of steam. The whistle at a low pressure gives its tone while the bell rests down upon the projections standing out from the neck of the bellpost; but when subjected to extreme pressure, the consequent steam force and quantity, which, if

the bell were xed, would ll it to choking, thus preventing any whistle tone, buoys up the bell, the radial arms still guiding the edges of its mouth into the issuing stream, and the bell gives its tone While being upborne by or floating in the steam. rlfhat tone is constant, but varient according to the pressure.

R is a wrench, which, being placed beneath the bell, tits the shoulders s s. By this wrench the bell-post may be raised or removed, while the valve J, though made accessible, remains closed.

The purpose ot' the different depths E M N E', as also ofthe reverse or alternate chamfering of the bells edges, is to at't'ord, in the same hell, surfaces diii'erently impinged by the same current.

IVhat I claim as in v improvement and iuvention, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The use of radial arms within or without the bell ot' a steam whistle, by which to retain. said bell in the annular steam-current.

2. The use of openings in the dischargechamber of a steam-whistle, in addition to the annular opening thereof, to the effect of preventing excessive discharge through said annular opening into or upon saidwhistles bell.

3. rIhe use of a steam-bell the edges of whose mouth, sectionally or wholly, are un equally distant from the plane of the whistles annular opening, to the cii'ect of providing bell-surfaces diii'erently attacked by the same current.

4. The making of the edges of the mouth ot a steam-bell in arcs of unequal radii, to the ei'ect ot' securing upon said bell a unitive or an alternate and changing impact.

5. The titting ofthe bell of asteam-whistle loosely around its supporting or guiding post in such manner that said bell may rise perpendicularly, and iioat above the annular opening ofthe whistle, in and by the force ot' the steam that attacks it.

6. The combination, in a steam-whistle, ot' avalve-seat and valve, with a bell whose edges of impact are in arcs of unequal radii, or with a bell whose edges, Wholly or sectionally, are unequally distant from the plane ot' the whistles annular opening, substantially as set forth and described.

Witnesses:

THos. J. DAY, G. S. HUN'rooN.

LEVI E. LINCOLN. 

